Two more days to go before the d-day…. so far so good. We are kind of done with almost all the shopping now. Most of the “to-dos” too are done. So, we are left with the last and the most challenging task - Packing.
One has to make true use of analytical ability and arrangement skills… 2 bags - 23 kg each, and you have to fit everything in :) We had bought a big bag last week, and we already had a second bag. But now, that second bag is turning out to be pretty small, and weighs 4 kg. Given the size, we can at most stuff around 15 kg into it (total 19 kg). So, ….the fight is on. I am planning on totally ditching that bag, and buying a new one which is relatively bigger, and can accommodate full 23 kg. Even after that if we exceed the weight limit, then we need to filter out things… and that’s again going to be a big challenge. Anyways, planning to finish off with packing by 26th.
On the office front, today was kind of my last working day at mInfosys. I would be back only after a year or year and a half (???). Its nearly three and a half years now since I joined mInfosys, and was kind of a nostalgic movement to walk out. I am not sure if would be working in the same building (Infosys Mangala) when I return back since the construction of the new Development Centre has already begin!. But …again, who has seen future! You never know! :)
Oh yes… I subscribed to SkypeIn service today. So, I now have a Kingsport telephone number to to which people can call, and I receive the calls on my computer, and it works real cool. It would take some time for me to get an actual land line in US since I don’t have any credit history associated with me. So, this service should hopefully fill the void!
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January 25th, 2006 at 11:55pm
Its quite some time since I wrote something over here. It has been a very hectic and happening week so far. At office, we had the synergy finale last Sunday, the details of which I had posted up over here. On Monday, we had christmas celebrations in the office. Was fun! :). And then on Tuesday, there was a performance by the in-house musical band of mInfosys called Yantra. I could not stay for the entire show, which went for over 2.5 hours., but I did listen a couple of songs. Its was really a great performance. Even though I could not be *at* the show, I could hear the music/songs at my work place.
My wife is doing fine and is now settled down in Houston. The Canon Powershot A610 rocks. The quality of image is real good. We are now waiting for the rechargeable batteries and charger which I bought over eBay. Digi-cams are power hungry devices. They need batters with more power. So, Its always better to get batteries with higher mAh rating. mAh of a battery is similar to Stamina. The higher, the better. I have managed to get hold of 8 AA sized 2500 mAh NiMH rechargeable batteries and a 1 hour fast charger for around $29 (including shipping) over eBay. Don’t know if is a nice deal. But it sounded reasonable.
On the work front, lots of work. We are working on providing a single sign on feature (provided by siteminder/identiyminder) for windows sharepoint portal. And this kind of requires us to write a ISAPI filter for IIS. We are currently working on writing this ISAPI filter (which does custom authentication). If you are familiar with ISAPI programming, get back to me!
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December 23rd, 2005 at 03:04pm
This weekend was work and fun. I was in office on Saturday to catch up with work. But Sunday was fun. It was the grand finale of Synergy 2005. As mentioned in one of my previous post, Synergy is the annual sports event of mInfosys. The finale is always held on the beach side. This year, the program was at the a place called called “Samudra Darshana Guest house” near Hosabettu. Hosabettu beach is around 10kms from mInfosys.
This year, the program started started in the afternoon, and finished with dinner at around 10 PM.
Various games were played………..started with Triathlon, followed by Lagori….
Lagori - Click to Zoom
After Lagori, there was Sand Castle competition.
Sand Castle - Click to Zoom
Sand Castle - Click to Zoom
But the most interesting game was Beach volley ball. The finals between the Green Team and the Red team was really thrilling. Thought fight till the last minute. Finally green won the volley ball finals.
Beach Volley Ball - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Smash - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Smash - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Red vs Green - Click to Zoom
After volley ball, there was tug-of-war. This year around, no major fight in tug-of-war, compared to the previous years when the rope itself used to give up!!
Tug of War - Zoor Lagake Haiyaa - Click to Zoom
Then there was the prize distribution ceremony…..
mInfoscions - Prize Distribution - Click to Zoom
This years overall champions were Red Bulls! (that’s the name of the Red team!).
Red Bulls - Winners of Synergy 2005 - Click to Zoom
My team, the black hawks had to be happy being in the third place.
Prize distribution was followed by small time dance party….but it was already 10 PM by then.. and we had to wind up.
Lets Dance baby - Click to Zoom
Overall, a great day and had a nice time.
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December 19th, 2005 at 01:38pm
Update (13-Apr-2007): Apparently, I heard recently that they have changed the design - due to the nature of the soil at the construction area. I think it won’t be a inverted pyramid as shown below.
OK. This one is for real, unlike the major HOAX forward mail that was floating around a couple of months back.
The real proposed Design of the new Infosys Campus at Mangalore looks as shown below:
Source : http://www.hafeezcontractor.com
Will post more pictures if I get a chance!
You can find designs of other proposed Infosys buildings at the Hafeez Contractor’s website.
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November 11th, 2005 at 12:41pm
Apart from the normal project party, at Infosys, we also have a quarterly unit party. i.e, folks from the entire unit would present. We had this quarters party yesterday at ‘Pegasus’. We started at around 5.30 PM from office. Pegasus has a section with a disco floor. We had booked that place for the party. Initially the crowd was bit less, but as usual, quite a lot of people turned out as time passed by.
Started with fresher introduction. i.e, people who joined our unit in the last quarter. It was kind of ragging and fun :). Then there were the normal games, and then finally the floor was open to dance!.
One thing good was, the music!.. The DJ did a pretty decent job this time around. He did a good mix. The food was also decent. All of us had a great time.
Well, this was kind of my first official party. I had attended Unit parties before, but as a spouse! Got to attend one more party this Sunday, this time its for people who volunteered for the mInfy10 event.
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September 23rd, 2005 at 08:44pm
Yesterday was the big day for Mangalore Infosys. We had our 10th anniversary celebrations. The venue : Dr. TMA Pai International Convention center.
The program started at around 4 - 4.30 PM. Lot of dignitaries had come down for this special occasion. We had S. Gopalakrishnan (Kris) - Director, K. Dinesh - Director, N S Raghavan (ex-infoscion, emp# 1 of Infosys), R G Bhandi (ex-infoscion, the first DC head of Mangalore), M M Mohan (ex-infoscion), Binod H R, Bikramjit Maitra, V P Kochikar, Shivshankar, Capt. Sinha and couple of other folks.
The entrance was strictly for Infoscions and their family members.
Banner at the Entrance (Click to Zoom)
Entrance of the Convention Centre (Click to Zoom)
Here is the stage setup :
Stage Setup (Click to Zoom)
The cake was damn beautiful. It was a replica of our Infosys Mangala office. Check out the pictures.
The mInfy 10 Cake - Front View (Click to Zoom)
The mInfy 10 Cake - Front View (Click to Zoom)
The mInfy 10 Cake - Back View (Click to Zoom)
The mInfy 10 Cake - Side View (Click to Zoom)
The function started with a snapshot of the past 10 years. “Story So far” kind of thing. Was very nostalgic indeed. This was followed by a short movie on Mangalore Infosys.
After that the formal function began.
Sudhir, Bhandi, Kris, NSR, Dinesh, M M Mohan (Click to Zoom)
Then then there was cake cutting. Two young mInfoscions who share their birthday with mInfosys got to cut the cake along with other dignitaries!. But, it was kind of sad to cut such a beautiful cake!!
Cake Cutting (Click to Zoom)
Cake Cutting - Kris(Click to Zoom)
This is how the auditorium looks like… it can house around 1800 people.
Inside the Auditorium (Click to Zoom)
The cake cutting was followed by speeches by dignitaries.
Kris sharing his thoughts (Click to Zoom)
N S Raghavan - The first employee of Infosys!(Click to Zoom)
K Dinesh addressing the gathering (Click to Zoom)
Bhandi - The first DC head of Mangalore (Click to Zoom)
Bhandi and the second batch folks sang the Song “Zindagi Milke Bitayege” from Satte Pe Satta, bringing back some old memories!
Batch 2 folks (Click to Zoom)
M M Mohan sharing his thoughts (Click to Zoom)
After the stage event, we had a Inter-DC short film competition. It was a competition among various Development Centers of Infosys to come up with a short film on the topic “Social Consciousness and Community Empathy”. This program went on for about an hour. 12 films were played. In the mean time, cake was served. Mysore DC won the competition.
Next up was the Rock Show from a group called Aquaflow from Mumbai. They did a pretty neat job. One good thing that they did was, they did manage to sing some non-rock stuff too, although it disappointed some small set of rock fans. So, it was not a pure rock show as such! After a couple of numbers, mInfoscions were all set to rock and roll and didn’t want to stop! (as usual!)
Rock Show by AquaFlow (Click to Zoom)(Click to Zoom)
Rock Show by AquaFlow (Click to Zoom)(Click to Zoom)
Rock Show by AquaFlow (Click to Zoom)(Click to Zoom)
mInfoscions on the stage (Click to Zoom)
Rock and Roll (Click to Zoom)
Ooops!.. (Click to Zoom)
The last part for the day was.. the dinner :). Taj Manjarun were the caterers for the day, and the food was good, specially the non-veg part!
Dinner (Click to Zoom)
Dinner (Click to Zoom)
All in all, a day to remember for all mInfoscions.
Related Post : Narayana Murthy in Mangalore - Inauguration Program
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September 10th, 2005 at 08:40pm
Its a little more then 3 years since I joined Infosys and yesterday was the inauguration function of the 10 year celebration of mInfosys. Like I had mentioned in my earlier post, 8th September 2005 would mark 10 years of Mangalore Infosys Development center.
Mr. Narayana Murthy, our Chief Mentor was present for the yesterday’s inauguration session at Mangalore. This was the first time that I could see him in person!
Our entire office was decorated for this occasion.
You can see the Rangolies below :
Due to the Mangalore rains, the entire open air amphitheater was covered. You can see the stage settings and the amphitheater below :
The stage decoration & Amphitheater
The inaugural session began at around 5 PM in the evening. I got some good close up snaps of both Mr. Murthy and Mr. Mohandas Pai, our CFO.
Mr. Narayana Murthy & Mr. Mohandas Pai
The inaugural function was followed by cultural show. Also, yesterday was the traditional day, and all Infoscions were in their traditional attire!
The star of the show was obviously Mr. Narayana Murthy. I had heard/read/seen a lot about him before, and knew that he was a very simple man, but after what i saw yesterday, it was a reaffirmation of what I had heard/read and seen. Really amazed at the simplicity of this man.
Some things that I noted about Mr. Murthy:
- We made a presentation to him, and he would listen fully to what you say. Always talks very kindly.
- When he arrived at our office, he was in a formal attire. After he came to know that Mangalore Infosys was celebration traditional day, he switch over to a traditional dress - Down to earth person.
- Absolutely did not show any signs of being such a big person. He was the Most energetic person in the entire crowd. Would clap for every performance on stage. He was with the crowd most of the time, talking to all the employees, taking snaps etc.
- Leadership by example - This one impressed me a lot! - For the buffet dinner, he stood in the queue along with the junta, served himself, and then settled down.
I can go on and on………….We have soo much to learn from a person like Mr. Murthy.
And here is the most treasured photo of all :
Me on the immediate right of NRN ! A memorable moment
Update : September 9th Function at Mangalore.
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August 19th, 2005 at 11:26pm
The Infosys Mangalore Building - A landmark in Mangalore
The Mangalore Development Center (DC) of Infosys was the first development center outside Bangalore. And this September 8th, mInfosys turns 10 !
Mangalore DC is known as “The Happening DC”, and true to its reputation, a series of events are planned starting Aug 18th to celebrate this occasion.
And, that has been keeping me busy for the past few days, and will continue to do so for the next couple of days. I am in the publicity team, and life has been kind of hectic. :)
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August 12th, 2005 at 02:58pm
Woooosh… Had a Rain dance in our office today as a part of TGIF series..
mInfy* rocks!
The dance was in our amphi-theater area and started at around 6.45 PM, and as usual, it did not rain much today. But nothing to worry about. As usual, we had tons of sprinklers etc and it was more than raining.. and more importantly, the people!. mInfoscions .. you rock!.
Did not click any snaps … mainly bcoz my camera is NOT water proof…. :)
*mInfy -> mInfosys -> Mangalore Infosys.
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July 15th, 2005 at 10:58pm
Update (Nov 11, 2005): Check out the Real Design of the Proposed Infy Campus at Mangalore.
I work for Infosys, mangalore and this mail recently bumped into my mail box about the design of new Infosys campus in mangalore, with some really cool snapshots of the desgin.
All i can say is, the above pics are kind of fake and the mail is a pure HOAX. The snaps have nothing to do with Infosys or Infy Mangalore campus! :)
I am not sure who send out that mail, but that mail is making round all around the net !. Lot of people are googling for information on this, and they end up on my blog ! :).
Thats why this post!
Ok. So, for the real one : Check this link : http://www.voyager-ent.com/flash_index.asp. This something that is proposed in UAE!
Also, check this previous post of mine!
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June 9th, 2005 at 02:43pm
